Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown
by rubydear
Summary: "I never thought you'd ask me to get drunk with you. Sure, why not?" {Rated T for the presence/use of alcohol.}
1. Someday Candy Canes Will Rule The World

**Disclaimer: I don't own the characters. The only thing I can lay claim to is the ideas that led to this.**

"What's with the cane?"

"I figured I should be able to defend myself this year."

"With a large plastic candy cane? Really, Charlie Brown?"

"Someone's not getting a Christmas present this year."

"Hey! That's not fair!"

"Oh? How is me not giving you a present because you haven't been nice unfair, Lucy? Please, enlighten me."

"Because it's not your place to judge whether I'm nice!"

She sticks her tongue out at him.

"Really not helping your case here."

"If I apologize, can I have my present?"

"I don't know. Maybe."

"Why can't you give me a definitive answer?"

"Why can't you be nice?"

"While you two argue over that, can someone direct me to a place where I can hide?"

"Oh, no you don't, Linus!" Lucy calls to him.

Charlie Brown catches his friend's shoulder with his oversized candy cane, dragging him back. "Yeah, no. You're staying."

"Well, um… Who's going to watch the house?"

"Rerun's doing that," Lucy reminds him, fiddling with her mistletoe hairclip. "That kid wouldn't know 'fun' if it whacked him over the head with a shovel."

"Ahem. Lucy."

"Yes, Charlie Brown? I am _trying_ to help you get my little brother to stay here, if you don't mind."

"I'd rather my apology."

"Well, if you're going to keep my present I can return the favor, you know."

"Somehow I think I'd be afraid to take anything you give me, regardless."

"Well, now who's not being nice?"

"You two might want to look up, before all the guests get here," Linus informs them.

"Huh?" Lucy looks to the ceiling. "AUGH!"

Charlie Brown, following her gaze, rolls his eyes. "Of course it'd be you, with my luck."

He took a few steps away. "That never happened."

"Agreed."

"What never happened?" Sally asks, coming downstairs.

"Nothing," Lucy informs her.

"Absolutely nothing," Charlie Brown agrees. "Except Lucy's not getting a Christmas present."

"He's not getting one, either."

"Why do you two argue so much?"

"Oh, hey, Schroeder," Linus greets.

Lucy doesn't acknowledge the piano player, Charlie Brown offers a wave and then returns to their argument.

"If you'd just apologize, Lucy-"

"Well, if you weren't so ridiculous-"

"Hey, Chuck, we're here!"

"Hello, Charles."

"Charlie Brown's a little bit preoccupied at the moment," Linus greets them. "We have food. And music."

As if on cue, someone presses play and Christmas music starts blaring from the speakers.

A couple feet away, a certain piano player makes a startled noise.

"Well, you see- is that my CD, Linus?"

"Um… No?" the boy with the blanket scarf offers.

"AUGH!"

"Lucy, please don't kill Linus," Charlie Brown grips her shoulders from behind, holding her back.

"Let me hit him and I'll apologize."

"Tempting, but no."

"Pleaaaase?" Lucy turns to face him, pouting.

"Ah… Promise me you won't kill him."

"Okay!"

"Who's side are you on?!"

"Don't make me answer that," the blonde boy grumbles to himself.

"Did you say something?" Sally asks, turning to face her brother.

"Nothing you need to worry about, Sally."

"Okay. Also, I got some alcohol for the party! It's in the kitchen, hidden in the cupboard!"

"Do I want to know how you-"

"Probably not."

Curiosity piqued, Charlie Brown slips into the kitchen.

"What're you leaving the party for?" Lucy inquires.

"I'm not. I was told we have alcohol now and was considering indulging in less-than-legal activities. Care to join me?"

"I never thought you'd ask me to get drunk with you. Sure, why not?"

"Pick out one of the bottles, then. They're in the cupboard, apparently."

"Alright. Hold on, let me pour it."

"I don't think so. I don't trust you."

"Ouch, I'm offended. I was even going to apologize for insulting your oversized stick."

As he pours their drinks, he glares at her, sticking his tongue out. "It's not an oversized stick."

"You go first," says Lucy, eyeing her drink suspiciously. "This was your idea, after all."

"Fair enough," he agrees, taking a sip of the wine.

"Well?"

"Not that bad," he shrugs.

She takes a sip of hers. "...I'm not sure how to describe this."

Meanwhile, in the living room, Sally has taken to running around with mistletoe in hand.

"Linus!"

"Gah!"

"Caught you! You have to kiss me now~!"

"I thought you were over that?"

"So? Mistletoe is mistletoe!"

Oh, and Schroeder is eyeing the speakers with contempt from the other end of the room.

Back in the kitchen, they're on their second glasses of wine.

"How many bottles were in that cupboard?"

"I'm not sure. At least four. Why?"

"Because in a few days, I'm sitting down with Sally and telling her to stop whatever illegal activities she's been doing to get ahold of all this alcohol."

"Whilst simultaneously indulging in this exact same alcohol," Lucy points out, pouring her third glass.

"It's the holidays. Besides, I've been kind of curious about this for a while."

"Hm. I've been curious about something for a little while, too."

"What's that?"

Lucy unclips her hairclip, unnoticed, and raises it over their heads. "Look up."

"...Mistletoe?"

"And? Normally?"

"Normally you kiss the person you're under the mistletoe wi- oh, wait, seriously?"

"Don't you dare make me say it," she mumbles.

"Are you drunk right now?"

"...What?"

"Are you drunk right now?" he repeats.

"Why?"

"'Cause I'm not gonna kiss you if you only want me to kiss you 'cause you're drunk, that's why," he tells her, putting their empty glasses in the sink and hiding the bottle away.

"Can we go back to the party now?" she asks, yawning.

He takes her hand, leading her to the living room couch.

Miraculously, nobody else is sitting there.

"I wouldn't know if I was drunk," Lucy points out, shifting beside him on the couch.

"What do you mean by that?"

"I've never been drunk. I wouldn't know how it feels."

He takes the hairclip from her hand, then, and grins. "Look up."

"I don't need to," she says quietly, leaning forward to kiss his cheek. "Now give that back."

"I don't think so."

"Come o- hey!"

He is standing, and calmly walking away from the couch.

She follows, irritated, into the hallway. "Stoooop!"

"Fine," he grins, turning to face her again, dangling the hairclip over his head. "Come here, then."

Suspicious, she approaches.

When she gets near enough, he hugs her, pulling her close.

He places the clip in her hair once more, and laughs.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing."

"Tell me!"

She glares up at him, and he laughs again.

"You look adorable!"

"I do not!"

"Hm. Would you accept 'stunning'?"

"That can be arranged. ...Stop that."

"Stop what?"

"Playing with my hair!"

"Fine. Come on, your Christmas present is upstairs."

"Not under the tree?"

"No."

"Hm."

"Here we are. Sit down somewhere, I need to dig for it."

Lucy sits on his bed, wondering what the object is.

She digs in her pocket to make sure his is still there.

"Aha! There it is!"

He turns and hands her a small box.

She reaches into her pocket and hands him an equally small box.

Silently, they remove the lids.

Lucy smiles, and doesn't say a word.

Charlie Brown laughs at the contents of his box.

"Do you like it?" he asks her, curious.

She nods. "They're beautiful and sparkly."

"They also glow in the dark."

"Seriously? Now I feel cheap."

"Thought you were used to that?"

"Oh, very funny."

"You got me a kite, though, so I wouldn't call it cheap."

"I wanted to get you the actual bird, but that fell through, so I had to get something simple."

"You tried to get me a bird for Christmas?"

"Shut up."

They fall asleep maybe half an hour later.

Downstairs, however, the party carries on.

Sally is trying to get a drinking game going, while Linus is talking to Schroeder in the corner.

Marcie is hovering by the food, not sure what to do in such a crowded social setting.

Peppermint Patty is monologuing to Snoopy, who isn't really listening.

Only half an hour later does it occur to Schroeder to ask Linus if he's seen Charlie Brown, or, for that matter, Lucy.

"...Oh, wow."

"What is it?"

"I lost my sister! ...Wow, this is conflicting."

"I'll take that as a no."

"...I'd better go look, Charlie Brown was with her last I checked..."

Linus starts searching in the kitchen.

Here he finds nothing of note, besides some glasses in the sink.

"Alright… Nothing here. I may as well check upstairs, then."

From the top of the stairs he can't see anything, so he starts down the hall, eventually finding a door slightly ajar.

He stops for a moment to make sure it's quiet inside.

He pushes it open, and is greeted with the strangest thing he has ever seen.

His sister and his best friend, cuddling together on top of the sheets, fast asleep.

He looks around for a blanket, and drapes the largest one he could find over them both.

He decides that he will ask them about this tomorrow.

For now, though...

"Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown."


	2. It's The New Year, Charlie Brown

**A/N: So, I was looking through my writing, and realized I'd forgotten about a followup piece I wrote to this. It's old, but I wrote it not long after the first chapter, so that's to be expected. I don't like it all that much, but I'm sure someone will. If it's not clear, this takes place on New Years Eve, about a week after the last chapter. Thank you for all the views, favorites and follows over the year this has been posted. To the two of you who reviewed:  
**

 **Xanthophlobic: Thank you, and I'm aware of the flaws in these. I wrote them as practice, and I didn't initially plan to post it at all, so I didn't edit much, either. Though the drabble-type feel is very much intentional, actually - it was initially meant to be one, and it got away from me. This one probably has the same feel to it, since I tried to keep it in the spirit of the previous one.  
Mazzyandcookies: Thank you so much! I'm glad you liked it!  
**  
 **And to those of you who read, but didn't review: thank you as well, for reading at all. I don't write for other people as much as myself, but I'm always glad when people enjoy my work. I hope I can find more pieces to share with all of you. And I hope that whatever you liked about the first chapter, you find more of here, and if not here then someplace else.  
**

"No, I want the dog piece!"

Rerun glares at the dog holding his coveted piece.

Lucy stares at Rerun.

"...Rerun, are you seriously fighting Snoopy, a dog, for the dog piece?"

"If I can't have a dog then can't I at least have the dog piece?"

Sally, amidst the confusion, takes the cat piece from the pile.

Snoopy, noticing this, looks at her, mildly offended.

She pats his head, smiling.

Charlie Brown, grinning, takes the iron.

Snoopy settles on the battleship, causing Rerun to let out a cry of, "VICTORY!"

"Charlie Brown, why are you grinning? Nobody likes the iron," Lucy informs him, somewhat confused.

"I do," he sticks his tongue out at her.

Sally places the hat piece atop her cat.

"I'm the hat," Linus announces, snatching the piece off of said cat.

"My cat in a hat!"

"I'll take the shoe, I guess."

"The little old woman who played with the shoe," Charlie Brown laughs.

"That didn't even make sense, you blockhead."

"Should we get started?" Linus questions, and he is answered with nods from almost everyone. "Put your pieces on the board."

Everyone did so.

"Hey, uh… Who's the banker?" Charlie Brown asks.

Linus looks to his left, where Snoopy is dressed as a banker. "...Apparently, Snoopy is volunteering."

...

"Ha! Vermont! Now I've got all the blue places!"

"That's just light blue, Lucy. You still need Boardwalk and Park Place. Which belong, respectively, to Snoopy and Sally."

"That's not fair!"

Snoopy, placing a piece on the Short Line railroad, cheers.

Rerun flips the table.

Everyone is silent.

Slowly, they turn to look at him.

"You got all the railroads!"

"...Okay then," Sally shrugs.

"What do we do now?" Linus asks.

"How about we play Sorry?" Lucy offers, glaring at Rerun.

"No, I'm not!"

"Well. we could watch something, I guess...?" Charlie Brown ventures, frowning.

"What time is it?"

"Only seven-thirty."

"Seriously? It's got to be later than that!"

"Come on, Lucy, help me pick out something to watch," Charlie Brown sighs.

"What if I don't want to?" she sticks her tongue out at him.

"Then I will drag you with me," he informs her, clearly losing his patience.

"Fine."

Once they're upstairs, Charlie Brown starts sorting through the DVD stacks in his room while Lucy sits on his bed.

"So far, this has been a disaster."

"Of course it has, Charlie Brown, it was your idea. Those never end well."

"Gee, thanks, Lucy."

"You're welcome," she smiles sweetly.

"When I said I wanted your help, I meant it, so get up here and help me pick something."

"Why didn't you just ask Linus?"

"Oh, I don't know, maybe… Because I wanted to talk to you?"

"We're talking now."

"I'm aware of that."

"Hey, do you think that wine is still in the kitchen?"

"You're not touching it, Lucy."

"Why not?"

"Remember last time?"

"Vaguely."

"It was a week ago, Lucy."

"Exactly. I remember it. Vaguely. ...Hey, what about this?"

"We're not watching Star Wars."

"Why not?"

"Because we're not."

"Give me one genuinely good reason."

"This is my house, and these are my movies. I have veto power."

"Then why did you ask for my help?"

"I answered that already."

"Fine, here you go," she sighs dramatically, shoving a case into his hands.

"...This is a romantic comedy."

"I know that. Take it or leave it."

"...Let's go, we've wasted enough time up here."

Film in hand, the duo return downstairs.

Sally, Linus, Snoopy and Rerun have all started playing Pictionary in their absence.

"We're back," Charlie Brown announces, waving the DVD around.

"With terrible movies!" Lucy adds cheerfully.

If she notices she glare she receives, she doesn't acknowledge it.

Charlie Brown puts on the movie and sits on the couch.

Lucy, seemingly uninterested in the game of Pictionary - which is getting rather heated at this point - sits beside him.

"I can't believe you actually watch this," she informs him ten minutes in.

Meanwhile, with the Pictionary players…

"Is that even in the rulebook?"

"I don't know! We don't have a rulebook!"

Charlie Brown is watching the film intently.

Lucy, deciding she may as well get her fun where she can, taps his arm lightly.

"What is it, Lucy?"

She decides she will have to try harder. "I don't get it."

"That's because you know nothing about love."

"That's not true!"

"Oh? It's not?"

"No, it's not!"

He presses the pause button, and turns to face her. "Prove it."

"Love is when you lie awake at night thinking about the other person," she says simply, tapping his nose.

"I guess that makes sense. And stop that!"

"Why should I? It's fun!"

"It bothers me."

"When has that ever stopped me?"

She taps his nose again, smiling.

"Never, and I suppose I shouldn't start expecting you to be nice now."

"Finally, you get it!"

He unpauses the film, facing the screen again.

"Huh?"

"Let's finish the movie."

...

"What time is it now?"

"Ten-fifty or so," Lucy replies, glancing at the clock. "I still can't believe you like those movies."

"You laughed at it."

"I laughed because it was so bad," she informs him, taking the TV remote and turning on the countdown.

One of his arms is around her shoulders, and she doesn't seem to mind, leaning her head on his shoulder.

She does, however, find something to complain about. "Stop that!"

"Stop what?"

"Stop messing with my hair, you blockhead!"

"I don't think so," he grins.

Snoopy, at some point, left Sally, Linus and Rerun to their games - card games, now - and is curled up on the empty space next to the other two.

"Say, are you sure we couldn't-"

"No, Lucy."

"Not even a little bit?"

"Not happening."

"But, Charlie Brown-"

…

"Ten minutes to the new year," Linus announces, looking at the clock.

"Hooray!" Sally cheers.

"It's here?" Rerun asks.

"Not just yet," Charlie Brown corrects him. "A few more minutes."

"Ohh, nine!" Sally exclaims.

"Eight," Linus calls the next minute.

"Seven!" Lucy shouts.

"Six," Rerun offers.

"Five," Charlie Brown yells out.

"Four!"

He stands, and Lucy follows his example.

"Three!"

If she could see his face, she would be greeted with a very nervous expression.

"Two!"

Sally sneaks up behind Linus.

"One!"

She taps him on the shoulder, just before…

"HAPPY NEW YEAR!"

Shouting in his ear.

If they looked to the side at that moment, they'd see a scarlet-faced Charlie Brown kissing an equally red Lucy.

Rerun hugs Snoopy, and Sally kisses Linus and then skips into the kitchen, humming a song.

Linus, wondering just what she could be going to get (and also what that kiss was about, though most likely she just wanted to partake in tradition), turns his head.

And, for the second time in a week, he is greeted with an exceptionally strange sight.

Charlie Brown is kissing his sister.

He decides that, right now, he has taken all the insanity he can stand, and goes into the kitchen himself.

Charlie Brown himself pulls away moments later, and looks to the side. "Sorry, just… Forget that ever happened… It was a mis-"

"Shut up," Lucy orders.

"I- Huh?"

"I said shut up. No wallowing in self-pity. Not tonight, anyway, you have the rest of the year to let everything go wrong."

"Gee, thanks."

"And I swear to god, if you ever say kissing me is a mistake, I will personally punch you."

"You… What...?"

"...You're not gonna get this unless I beat it into your thick skull, are you?" Lucy sighs, and kisses him again. "I like you, you blockhead!"

"So… Does that mean… I could kiss you again... Or…?"'

"It means if you don't, I'll hit you."

 **A/N: I really don't know how I feel about this piece, and there are some things that feel vague to me. If there's anything you feel needs clarification, please let me know and I'll go back and edit it. I don't know if I'll write any more of this - I kind of like it at two chapters, but I have been toying with the idea of a Valentine's Day themed story. If I write it, I'll be sure to post it, but probably as its own, separate story. I feel like I've improved a lot since writing this, and I'd like to show it.**


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